Case study on emerging trends in geospatial technologies for study of urban form

[EN] GIS has been an e振ective tool to study urban form. However, as its own ield, GIS has evolved in a rapid pace over the past decades. Recent developments in geospatial analytics and visualization technologies o振er new tools and applications for the researchers in the ield. This paper traces recent major trends in GIS and discusses their implications to the ield of urban form research. These trends include the following: 1) increase in dimensions with 3D GIS; 2) integration with LiDAR remote sensing; 3) cloud-based GIS; 4) integration with virtual reality. This paper identiies best practices from two recent projects in the United States. It then discusses a class project and demonstrates the potentials of these new emerging GIS technologies for the study of urban form